Eric Limer

The worst part of going to the doctor's is being poked and prodded with any number of terrifying probes and needles, but you probably haven't seen many of the really scary implements that are out there. Here are 16 crazy ones you probably don't want anywhere near you.

This is one of the two probes you'll be pierced with if you're shot by a taser. You'd probably be too busy being shocked to mind the puncture wound.

Photo: Jeff Topping/Getty Images

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This is an LED probe, used for photodynamic cancer therapy. In its tip are 144 tiny diodes that shine three times brighter than the sun.

Photo: NASA/MSFC/E. Given/Getty Images

This is a 1922 Scherck Cystoscope, used to examine the bladder by way of insertion through the urethra. Obviously the whole thing doesn't go in there, but the unit contains a removable catheter, stainless steel probe, and a cloth-covered electrical cord to power the tiny light bulb.

The Folding Pocket General Surgical Set, circa 1870 contains 14 different instruments needed for general surgery, and fits into a foldable leather case for the surgeon on the go.

This periscope device is being used to locate a cancerous area somewhere in this woman's throat. After it's found, it'll be treated with the terrifyingly named 2,000,000 volt "Deep Therapy X-Ray Machine."

Photo: Douglas Grundy/Three Lions/Getty Images

This is another set of scary, 19th century tracheotomy tools. The exception is the implement at the top left, an 18th century Trocar, used to bleed off built-up fluids or gasses inside the body.

Photo: Hulton Archive/Getty Images

A selection of Civil War-era medical instruments, including those used for tonsillectomy and implements that have the awful-sounding name "perforators."